Educational Experience Reflection Paper

Growing up, I had a basic understanding of diversity and the importance of inclusivity. Before attending the University of Maryland, I only considered race and gender when thinking of diversity since those are two of my own identities. Living in residence halls and getting involved in extra curricular activities, my self-awareness and understanding of other identities increased.

During my professional, personal, and academic experiences I have always placed an extraordinary value on surrounding myself with diverse ideas, cultures, and opportunities. One of the primary reasons I chose to attend Washington State University was for the size, I enjoyed the variety of opportunities presented to me and the connections I was able to make with people from all walks of life. Academically, choosing to major in Global Politics and minor in Global Studies granted me the ability to indulge myself in a multitude of cultures, religions, languages, and general ways of thinking. This translated into my personal life while serving as President of Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity, where we were extremely proud to represent a diverse group of people, and work to ensure that everyone’s ideas were respected, opinions were heard, and no matter what all of our members had an opportunity to thrive while attending Washington State University. Professionally, while employed as Supervisor for the Games Department at Norpoint Entertainment I was responsible for managing employees that’s needs ranged in a variety of ways, from ideologies, ages, and their socioeconomic status. No matter where I was,

When I came to SLU, I had trouble finding where I fit in. I tried club volleyball and Greek life, but I never felt that those places were where I belonged. Finally, I joined Alpha Phi Omega (APO), a service fraternity on campus, but I still was not as involved as I wanted to be. While APO taught me about the importance of leadership, friendship, and service, I knew I wanted to be involved in an organization that would support me professionally in my future career. Thus, when I started my junior year, I realized that the occupational therapy community at SLU was where I belonged, and Pi Theta Epsilon could provide me an opportunity to merge the two together.

Moving from New York to California , I was exposed to more education opportunities. During my junior year of highschool I started taking college classes after school at the local community college. My counselor told me about this opportunity because moving from New York i had already met all the requirements to graduate. This, I felt was a big accomplishment because I had never taken such rigorous classes before and never after school. I took one college class before during the summer so i had no worries of trying to keep up with my high school work without falling behind on my college class either.

These environments fostered a mental flexibility that was equal parts understanding, tolerance, and adaptability. You only knew what you believed in by having it challenged. These experiences have always allowed me to appreciate and support the diversity of my peers, which I would continue to do as a law student and beyond. The perceptiveness I developed through immersion in unfamiliar situations means I can communicate successfully despite vast cultural differences, and that I will always seek to expand and share my knowledge to help bolster the atmosphere of inclusion and curiosity already prevalent at

Growing up in New York City and attending public school my whole life gave me the opportunity to grow up in a diverse environment which in turn has helped to broaden my perspective socially and culturally. These experiences allowed me at a young age to become friends with other immigrants and people whose culture, ethnicity, religion, and experiences were completely different from my own. Friends have taught me things like cultural norms and what is and isn't acceptable in other religions. Another experience that I that changed my perspective was taking the career pathway biomedical science because it helped me see academic courses in a different way. It showed me that school wasn't only tests, solving math problems, and writing essays. In

Coming from a diversity community and high school allowed me to have different view of points and be open about several topics such as immigration, low wages, and poverty for the worse. Being raised in a low income and diversity community and high school made me have the vision that where ever I go I would adjust to the environment and asotsphere which wasn’t the case when I decided to attend Johnson County Community College. My first semester of college was a but challenging because I was used to communicating with people that I was confortable with, and the group of people I normally interacted with throughout my entire life were Hispanic individuals. Coming to JCCC changed my whole perspective about how I have to adapt and get used to not

As our society evolved, my vision of the world has been changing drastically. The biggest change occurred when I came to the U.S. This happened due to fact, that in America I have more opportunities of being in contact with the ever changing technology. Even though, I came to America with a master’s degree technologically, I was behind, because in Mexico, the country in which I grew and was educated, used to have very limited technological advancements for the whole population. Therefore, I learned in America how to use the Internet, e-mailing, texting, and using a smart phone. Of course, Mexico is different today. As a consequence, when I lived in Mexico, my world view was limited to the issues, routines, and traditions of that country. Then, I came to America, believing that this country was genuinely multicultural. Fortunately, dealing with different cultures was not an issue, because my Mexican family is racially mixed, and I learned to appreciate different cultures, since my early childhood.

Going into Diversity I wasn’t for sure how the class would go. Considering I grew up in a more northern state and not the deep south, I did not thinking going into this class, people would be as open minded about the subject as I am. By no means is Missouri, as progressive as say Washington or California, but I do believe we are a few steps ahead of the south. When I first met my roommates they, would use terms in conversation that I would never ever use. I was explaining to my friend’s mom about how they would use certain terms. She was clearly astonished, she had not heard those terms used that since the 1970s. That conversation made me realize how something as simple as an individual’s geographically location can mold and shape how you perceive the world. Not only did my location change my perception, but what my mother and father taught me morally. My father was in the Navy and lived overseas in multiple counties. He was the minority, he learned the ways of different people. Some of his best friends were people he met over there. Both my mother and father taught, us to accept everyone, don’t judge people because of their religion, skin color, or background. We are all humans, just trying to make it in this world, make it harder on them because they are different? The third biggest influence is taking the time to learn and research diversity on my own.

My worldview has not entirely changed, however it has adapted to draw in pieces of several topics discussed in class. As a person I do not generally follow the political trails on television, as they are mostly propaganda anyway. As in my original worldview, I would still classify myself as fairly liberal. We discussed several types of religions in class, though I would still say I do not follow any of them and would prefer to stay agnostic. However, my world view has adopted some of the ideals of Aristotle, Confucius, humanism, and Buddhism.

When people noticed what school I went to they would always congratulate me. What they did not know was how difficult it was for me to fit in my freshman year. Cass Tech has a 3% Latino rate. Meaning I rarely saw any of my fellow Latino friends, which quickly made me cultured shocked. My Latino friends all spoke similar to be (Spanish and English) they dressed similar, where typically the same religion as me, and lived in Southwest Detroit. At Cass Tech I was rushed into learning about so many new cultures and people. Which was scary at first, but it was one of the best things I have ever done. Till this day I am proud to say my best friends are Bengali Muslim woman. Cass Tech opened me up to completely new cultures and religions; I lost an immense amount of ignorance of other cultural groups. I had no idea there was a small Country on the right side of Indian named Bangladesh. I always thought that people who were Muslim had to be Arab. While I had this misconceptions other people had these thoughts of me as well, and that did not always go

Texas Woman’s University has exposed me to a vast diversity of cultures that I get to learn about every day. I did not think that other cultures were wrong or strange in any manner, I just had no reference to them so now I feel more

Throughout my educational experience, I have endured countless hardships that made progress difficult at times. Although it was a struggle through my strong dedication to education, I have also earned a list of achievements for my hard work. These experiences from, failing two of my English classes, to excelling tremendously in mathematics, have molded me into the type of student I am today. I am a student with a growth mindset and, an optimistic outlook on education and, the bright future ahead. I now understand the impact that a positive mindset can have on your future. I am definitely proud of the student I have become. I feel like my journey is unique, but is also very relatable.

My family, culture, educational, professional experiences have all been positive. The different teachers that I have had; guided me into considering the teaching career for many reasons. First, my family has guided me, my mom and dad have always found the right schools for me. They have pushed me to do hard things that make me scared. They have had faith in the school’s that I chose were the right choices, and they will grow on me. My cultural experience is also a factor of why I want to be a teacher. My schools have been centered on helping students who have learning differences, so I have always been open about having a learning difference to other people. My educational experience has been amazing. It has been positive for me because the schools I have gone to were safe places that I could be myself. The teachers at my schools made a significant impact on me starting at a young age. The professional experience has been limited but beneficial. I worked at Stratford Friends School; I learned it is so much fun to work with children who were just like me. I love the children and school. I get excited about going back to school shopping. I love to dance in the isles, and I love to look at all the beautiful school supplies.

This reflection paper addresses as a student and counseling professional how I feel as though I have been readily prepared to teach in higher education and areas, concepts, strategies, and thoughts on how I have evolved through this course. This course has made me think more into how the most powerful, durable, and effective agents of educational change are not the policy makers, the curriculum developers or even the education authorities themselves; they are the teachers. It further contends that the quality of the educational changes that teachers have the skills and opportunities to effect will only be as reliable and proficient as the teachers’ individual capacities for reflective practice and the development of self-knowledge (Stepien, 1999). These aspects of teacher development have, historically, been largely overlooked in the preparation and promotion of effective teachers. The emphasis has been more explicitly focused on the development and demonstration of teachers’ understanding of content knowledge and the associated pedagogies and in their capacities to understand their students as individual constructors of knowledge in diverse social contexts (Bosworth, 1999).